I just got the call from Jim. For whatever reason, perhaps a bad reference from a former employer, perhaps my age, my lack of youthful svelte, or a hundred other possibilities I did not get the job. He’s going to “keep my resume on file in case anything opens up”. I’ve used that same line myself in the brush off of people who didn’t fit the position I was hiring for – that would be the circular file.

I assume that he shopped me around to the GMs of the various restaurants and none of them wanted me. From one time university professor to unemployed sometime blogger unfit to wait tables. I’m thinking landscaping next – spring is sprung and the world needs tree trimmers and lawn mowers. My horizon of possibility dawns steadily lower.

I was at my sister Sandy’s last night watching her feed my nephew Henry and I was telling her about the job. “Oh no,” she said, “I’m going to worry about you if you’re waiting tables. People suck. They are so rude. I hate to think of you doing that for a living.”

My parents are here. I spent part of last night in Sandy’s driveway watching Illinois almost beat North Carolina on the small set my parents keep in their motor home. They’ll be here all week.

Angela drew me a picture in the air the other night, a virtual Ven Diagram. She drew two nested circles and told me the small one was where I had been looking for work and the large one was where I should be looking for work since as a capable generalist I could do almost anything. How do I get to the big circle? No idea.